Bartonella tribocorum sp. nov., a new Bartonella species isolated from the blood of wild rats

Abstract

Two Bartonella strains from blood of two wild rats (Rattus norvegicus) living in a rural environment were isolated. These strains were distinct from all previously known Bartonella species based on phenotypic and genotypic characteristics. This new species is distinguished by its trypsin-like activity, the absence of the ability to hydrolyse proline and tributyrin, its 165 rRNA and citrate synthase gene sequences and by whole-DNA hybridization data. This new species, for which the name Bartonella tribocorum sp. nov. is proposed, seems to be genetically related to Bartonella elizabethae, an agent isolated in a case of human endocarditis. The type strain of Bartonella tribocorum sp. nov. is IBS 506T (CIP 105476T).

Phylogenetic Analysis of Bartonella Detected in Rodent Fleas in Yunnan, China

“…We infer that these mutations occurred among the different original isolates that are hypothetically attributed to the variants in host and geographic factors. B. tribocorum is a rodent-associated species that is distributed widely and that has been isolated from R. norvegicus in Europe and North America (Heller et al, 1998;Ellis et al, 1999). Ying et al (2002) demonstrated a B. tribocorum bacteremia in R. norvegicus and R. tanezumi flavipectus in western Yunnan, China.…”

Bartonella birtlesii sp. nov., isolated from small mammals (Apodemus spp.).

“…An approximately 1500 bp fragment of the 16S rRNA gene was amplified from the extracted DNA by using the eubacterial universal primers specific for the 16S rRNA gene, i.e. primer P8 (5h-AGAGATTTGATCCTGGCTCAG-3h) and primer Pc1544 (5h-AAGGAGGTGATCCAGCCGCA-3h) (Heller et al, 1998). PCR amplification of the citrate synthase gene was performed, as described by Birtles & Raoult (1996), with two primers, i.e.…”

“…The 12th approved species is Bartonella elizabethae (Daly et al, 1993), for which only a single isolate, originating from a human case of endocarditis, was described. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of this species is close to that of the rat Bartonella sp., B. tribocorum (Heller et al, 1998) and to that of other isolates not yet validly described, but all were isolated from small wild mammals (Birtles & Raoult, 1996 ;Kosoy et al, 1997). In addition to these 12 species, two others have been described in Peromyscus spp.…”

“…For two species [B. bacilliformis (Weinman, 1968) and Bartonella quintana (Vinson & Fuller, 1961)] the human is the natural host, for three others [Bartonella henselae (Regnery et al, 1992 ;Welch et al, 1992), Bartonella clarridgeiae (Lawson & Collins, 1996) and Bartonella koehlerae (Droz et al, 1999)] it is the cat (Felis domesticus) and for one other (Bartonella alsatica ; Heller et al, 1999) it is the rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus). For five Bartonella species, small mammals are the hosts : the rat (Rattus rattus) is the host for Bartonella tribocorum (Heller et al, 1998) The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession numbers for the 16S rRNA gene sequence and the partial 3h-end gene sequence of strain IBS 325 T (l CIP 106294 T l CCUG 44360 T ) are AF204274 and AF204272, respectively. pennsylvanicus is the host for Bartonella vinsonii (Baker, 1946), Apodemus spp. are the hosts for Bartonella taylorii (Birtles et al, 1995), Clethrionomys glareolus is the host for Bartonella grahamii (Birtles et al, 1995) and Microtus agrestis is the host for Bartonella doshiae (Birtles et al, 1995).…”

Bartonellaspecies detection in captive, stranded and free-ranging cetaceans

“…have been isolated from wild and domestic animals including cats, dogs, deer, cattle, and rodent, among others [7,11,20,24]. Because Bartonella spp.…”